"Go over it again for me, please." Charles said resting his chin on his hands as he leaned over the desk. His office was sparsely decorated except for a few books and trinkets on his desk. When one looked around, they would get the feeling that he was a temporary occupant. The current focal point in the room was a panicked man holding several papers stacked in a manilla file folder.
"The chairman's aortic walls have continued to balloon and separate. The coiling procedure has failed, and its too late for a stent-graft. He is scheduled to undergo a prosthetic aortic arch replacement. The procedure has a less than 30% chance of success given his age and comorbidities."
"Do we have a recent contrast dye MRI?"
"Unfortunately, the chairman is allergic to contrast dye, so he does not have a recent one. The best we have is an echo of the aorta." Charles forehead creased in frustration. Without a proper artery roadmap this case was doomed to fail. Even the best surgeon would have difficulty going in blind like this.
"Are the board and his family aware that he will most likely die on the operating table?" Charles asked.
"His medical proxy has stated that the chairman wished for the procedure that would give him the most freedom rather than prolonging his life with medicine while lying in bed."
"Since I don't have a choice, allow me to relax my nerves before the procedure." Charles sighed with resignation. This was clearly a double-edged sword. If he succeeded, he would become the hero of the hospital; promotions, publicity, pay raise, and more. However, if he failed, it would most likely be the end of his career at United Central Hospital. Charles would be lucky to find a job at a clinic in the future.
Once the man left the room Charles leaned back. He looked at the objects on his desk and pondered the future. His eyes stopped at the glass case that held a Newton's cradle in it. Before his father passed away, he had sent this as a gift to him for finishing his surgical residency. Charles had yet to touch it, but he would occasionally read the engraving on the base of the glass case.
'When things seem too difficult, may this help calm your mind. – Thomas'
Charles dragged the box closer to him and lifted the glass case. He pulled one of the balls all the way up before letting it fall down on its own. The bluish-silver ball collided with the one next to it, and then the ball opposite to it lifted off on its own, going as high as it could, before coming back down. This pattern repeated a few times when Charles realized his heart beat had synced up with it. He tried to lay back to relax, but the phone abruptly rang interrupting him.
"Dr. Newton, the board would just like to reiterate doing your utmost to succeed in this surgery. Should it fail, you will be given an indefinite vacation." The call ended as abruptly as it started, not giving Charles a chance to respond. His door opened and a nurse popped her head in, locking eyes with him.
"Doctor, room five has been prepped for the surgery, the patient is en route."
"Let's go then." Charles had nothing to say. He planned to take the full blame for this procedure so that none of the nurses or assistants would be punished. He first changed into a fresh set of scrubs and proceeded to the anteroom to get garbed and gloved. The flowing water was very soothing and the familiar hand washing technique allowed him to forget about the upcoming procedure, even if only for a minute. He finished garbing and then gloves were placed over his clean hands. They were then further sterilized with iodine.
Charles went through the automatic doors and stood over the patient. His body was already completely covered and only a small section of the draping was cut to reveal the position of the procedure. He confirmed the patient's information, identity of all those involved, and a quick summary of the procedure. Once the assistant physician confirmed the details, he began. The procedure to open the chest cavity was standard. He made the appropriate incisions, removed the upper portion of the breast bone, and identified the target organ.
The swollen aorta was clear to see with the naked eye. It was the most important artery in the body. Oxygenated blood would leave the heart and pass through the aorta before splitting off to the rest of the body. The next part of the surgery was the most difficult. With the heart no longer beating and the blood being bypassed with a machine, time was limited to replace the aortic arch with a prosthetic.
Hours went by, and the heart was restarted. The sutures held up and blood was flowing through the prosthetics normally. However, just as Charles was about to heave a sigh of relief, the monitoring devices went off. The alarms indicated that his blood pressure was dropping to dangerously low values. Charles looked around the operating area and eventually identified the bleed in the bifurcation of the common carotid artery.
The patients heart stopped just as he finished patching it up the bleed. Charles ordered defibrillation and adrenaline, however, no amount of either made a difference. Unwilling to give up, he began performing open heart massage until he was completely bloodied. However, after another half hour passed, everyone was drained and looking awkwardly at each other.
"Dr. Newton, shall I call time of death?" The assistant physician asked.
Charles had noticed the atmosphere in the room. He simply sat on the ground up against the wall and nodded his head. The three-and-a-half-hour surgery drained a lot out of him. While, the team was cleaning up and finishing with procedures, Charles left the room and pulled off all of his bloodied garbs and gloves into the biohazard bin. Everyone gave him sympathetic gazes as he dragged himself into his office, but none dared say anything.
News had already traveled that this surgery would determine his fate with the hospital. Charles sat in his office and felt extremely frustrated. 'The surgery was going so smoothly, we were just about to stabilize him, why did his carotid rupture!' He thought to himself. 'If only I'd known about it before-hand. I could have stented it while his aorta was open and saved him.'
While he was filled with regrets and thoughts of what could have happened, he did not notice that the Newton's cradle was just starting to run out of energy. As the balls came closer to a halt, the sound sped up until it was just shaking in one spot until it stopped. A few moments later the phone rang. Charles saw the number was from the board and picked it up. He dared not speak and just listened.
"Dr. Newton, the board would just like to reiterate doing your utmost to succeed in this surgery. Should it fail, you will be given an indefinite vacation." The call ended as abruptly as it started. Charles was absolutely stunned. He looked up at the closed door immediately. It opened and a familiar nurse popped her head in, locking eyes with him.
"Doctor, room five has been prepped for the surgery, the patient is en route."
Charles looked up at the clock in confusion. It read 6:28 pm. The surgery had started at 6:45 pm and ended at 10:13 pm. The feeling of déjà vu caused his head to hurt. He looked over at the nurse again and swallowed to wet his dry throat.
"Nurse, what time is it? And what condition is the patient in?"
"It is currently 6:28 pm, and the patient is currently asleep, he will be administered anesthesia soon." She had checked her wristwatch and read the patient information from the chart in her hand. The way he was looking at her was a bit strange, but considering the upcoming procedure she wrote it off as anxiety.
"I'll be just a moment." He said, and the nurse nodded and close his door.
Charles eyes immediately drew toward the Newton's cradle. He did not know what caused him to suddenly look at it, but deep down he knew. This was no ordinary toy, something otherworldly had just happened to him. Charles knew this wasn't a dream, since he was still wearing the scrubs from the procedure. He suddenly thought about the words engraved in the case, and realized that his father knew about this too. He was sure of it.
"I must have just traveled back in time."